Brehanna Daniels is a trailblazer as the first Black woman to work on a NASCAR pit crew.

Being able to change a set of tires during a NASCAR pit stop takes a certain amount of skill, precision and speed that, quite frankly, not many of us have. Brehanna Daniels, the first Black woman to work on a NASCAR pit crew, can do it in under 13 seconds. NASCAR—a sports league that isn't known for creating a welcoming environment for Black fans (it only just banned the Confederate battle flag at its events last year and only after its lone Black top-tier driver, Bubba Wallace, made it an issue)—wasn't even top of Daniels' mind as a place for opportunity in 2016 when she was a senior point guard at Virginia's Norfolk State University until recruiters from NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program showed up.

Given the choice between attending pit crew tryouts and taping a baseball game for a campus internship, Daniels chose NASCAR and hasn't looked in her rearview since. After making her professional debut in 2017, Daniels has continued to blaze a trail in a sport that is predominately male and white. Along with the rise of Wallace, who partnered with his Airness, Michael Jordan—NASCAR's first Black principal owner in nearly 50 years—Daniels is helping drive home the point that Black people have a place in NASCAR.

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